Back to a desktop configuration that doesn’t actively hide things from, anyway. Last night I performed a fresh installation of Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS, also known as Lucid Lynx.

LTS means “long term support,” in that Canonical releases software updates for a longer period of time than other Ubuntu releases. 10.04, for instance, is supported until April 2013, while the recently superceded 11.04 won’t receive any updates now that 11.10 is out.

So while I could have reinstalled 11.04 to get all the amenities I’ve gotten used to in the past two months of using Ubuntu as my sole operating system at home, I went for the admittedly slightly less slick 10.04. It’s been running on Ziggy the laptop quite comfortably for a while now, so its functions are a known quantity. Combine that with the continued software updates and it seemed the best choice.

Of course, this is all a fallback position in the long run. GNOME 2 isn’t going to be updated anymore. By April 2013 at the latest, I’m banking on someone having said “Fuck it, let’s make GNOME 3 do what we want it to and not put up with Unity or Gnome Shell’s tablet-emulation obsessions.” So I’ll be keeping an eye out for new desktop projects and forks of existing efforts. Something will come along that is an acceptable mix of modern flash and traditional interface.